Where fair-weather fans might only start noticing the Cup’s charms on third-round weekend, the Cowley brothers are hewn from tougher stock.

Unabashed nostalgia merchants, they fondly recall their feat at Concord Rangers, the Canvey Island club where they cut their teeth, in inspiring a 2014 Cup run from almost the lowest possible base. Entering the competition in the second qualifying round, the Beach Boys, to use Concord’s nickname, exited only after forcing a replay at Mansfield in the first round proper.

“At the end of that season,” Danny says, “we worked out that we had played more games than Manchester United.”

Not even five years on, these fast-talking Essex boys are operating on a different plane. With Lincoln four points clear at the top of League Two, the Cowleys signed contract extensions until 2022, going native to the extent they recently received a civic award as the city’s people of the year. On this bleak January afternoon, their training ground, on a windswept field opposite RAF Scampton, can feel like the end of the Earth, but they would not have it any other way.

The brothers have taken Lincoln back into the Football League, to the FA Cup quarter-final in 2017, to the top of League Two and now take on Everton in the CupCredit:
David Rose for The Telegraph

“Yes, it’s a bit off the beaten track, but as a consequence the people have such an allegiance,” Danny explains. “They’re so proud to belong to Lincoln, to be from Lincolnshire. We picked that up early on and realised it was maybe its unique selling point. It’s why we’re so proud of the journey here. It’s not just about young footballers, but a whole club, a whole city.” As Nicky puts it: “We wanted to make supporting Lincoln cool again.”

Few could dispute that they have succeeded. Prior to their arrival, Lincoln had been a byword for chaos, symbolised by the loss of League status and a lurch into administration, not to mention the ill-starred stewardship of Chris Sutton. They have re-energised the once-moribund Sincil Bank, thanks in large part to the Cup humbling of Burnley two years ago, which brought the precious glamour of a quarter-final at Arsenal. As they checked in that week to the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone – the same base used by Bayern Munich, Arsenal’s Champions League opponents, a few days earlier – they might have presumed their managerial arcs had peaked.

Instead, after wins over Northampton and Carlisle, they are back in the Cup equation, with a lucrative draw away to Marco Silva’s Everton.

Lincoln fans enjoy their trip to the Emirates in the quarter-final two years agoCredit:
Julian Finney/Getty Images

For a couple of avid historians of the game, it is a cherished prize. When I invite them to explore their childhood memories of the FA Cup, their answer, as befitting die-hard West Ham fans, is reminiscent of an all-our-yesterdays chat at Nathan’s pie and mash shop on the Barking Road.

“They sang ‘Billy Bonds’s Claret-and-Blue Army’ the whole way through,” says Danny. “We went everywhere to follow the Cup. It was 1994, snowing, and I queued for three hours to get us tickets for a game at Kidderminster. Nick had to stand on a milk crate to see it.”

The brothers absorbed their passion for the game from father Steve, who combined his career as a local government official with games for non-League Ilford. Even now, he forensically scrutinises every Lincoln game, giving his sons a full critique.

As a family, the Cowleys are wedded to what they call “real football”, more comfortable at the grimier end of the pyramid than they are amid the corporate seats and wafer-thin loyalties of the Premier League. While they are introducing a more scientific dimension to Lincoln’s training – the gym in which we conduct this interview would be the envy of any club at this level – they retain an earthy, unaffected charm.

It is just as well, really, for managing as brothers could break more fragile souls. I ask if they have suffered the odd moment of strain, but Nicky insists their bond is as strong as ever. “It’s not good for the team if you lose your emotional control,” he says. “This is a temperamental game. Sometimes, you need to keep the bigger picture in mind and say the right thing at the right time.”

“We both have quite broad skill sets, because we used to work as PE teachers at the same school,” Danny adds. “Both of us can manage people, both of us can coach.”

Not that they are mirror images: Danny, who at 40 is six years his brother’s senior, is the more garrulous and easy natured.

“There’s a certain good-cop, bad-cop element,” he smiles. “Yeah, there’s a blend,” Nicky agrees. “If players have a really strong voice, some discipline, then they also need some humour to lighten the mood.”

“We bounce off each other,” Danny says. “Just before I had children, our granddad told my wife and I, ‘Just make sure you are not both cross with them at the same time. Make sure the other one is available as a shoulder to cry on’. Footballers are big kids, too, aren’t they? So, that’s a principle that Nick and I have in our marriage here.”

A manager’s job can be as lonely as it is transient. To that end, the Cowleys’ double act helps to defuse a tension that might become unbearable for either of them alone. “When we were fielding countless phone calls yesterday, my wife said to me, ‘I don’t know how you do it’,” Danny admits.

“But it’s what we love, and we’re grateful for the opportunity. We will often be swapping text messages at 2am.” “Yeah, it’s good to work with someone …” Nicky begins. “Who you know is going to pick up the phone at two in the morning?” Danny replies. They grin in acknowledgment. As telepathic brothers, they are as skilled at defying the football odds as they are at finishing each other’s sentences.